Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bowl against Punjab Kings on Saturday at the Sharjah Cricket stadium. While the 2016 champions play an unchanged side, Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul announced that Universe Boss Chris Gayle and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi have found a place in the playing 11. Nathan Ellis, the Aussie pacer who shot to fame by taking a hattrick on his T20I debut, will make his debut for Punjab. 

After suffering a disappointing defeat against Rajasthan in their first game of the UAE-leg, PBKS made three changes to the playing 11. Fabian Allen, Porel and Adil Rashid were benched for  Ellis, Gayle and Ravi Bishnoi. Nathan Ellis becomes the 23rd player to play for Punjab Kings this season, the most by any team. 

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Talking about his decision to bring Gayle in, Rahul said that the 42-year-old’s inclusion will give him and Mayank Agarwal some ‘breathing space’. 

“I was unsure of what to do. That (last) game it can either deflate you or make you go fearless. Everyone is keen to get out there and turn this around.”

“When you are the bottom of the table, you are still trying to figure out what your best eleven is. With Chris back in the side, it gives me and Mayank a lot of breathing space at the top. Chris has always delivered for us and hope he can do that again for us today.” Rahul said.

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On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are at the bottom of the table, will go in with the same side. Kane Williamson said that he expects dew to come in later in the game. 

“We will try to restrict them to a low score. It’s about staying tight together and making small adjustments. It’s important to keep coming up with that energy and at times it’s easy to reflect on past performances where we have done better but we need to play with that freedom. We are playing the same team,” the Kiwi said. 

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Kane Williamson(c), Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed